GARDEN GROVE — The Santiago boys basketball team is suddenly the clear favorite to capture a third consecutive league championship.
Behind the scoring of Xavier Ojeda (17 points), Jacob Buboi (15) and Jorden de la Mora (12) the Cavaliers defeated La Quinta 55-48 in a Garden Grove League game Wednesday at Santiago High School.
Santiago (16-9, 6-1) and La Quinta (12-13, 5-2) were in a first-place tie coming into the contest, but now the Cavaliers, who have defeated the Aztecs twice, are one victory away from clinching the league title. Both teams have three league games remaining.
“It was a big one for us,” Santiago coach Matt Moorhouse said. “When we are on, we are pretty good offensively. We’re probably scoring in the 60s. Today we were a little under that and that is because we had a slow start.”
The Cavaliers play Friday at Loara, followed by games against Los Amigos and Rancho Alamitos.
The Saxons handed Santiago its only league loss, defeating the Cavaliers, 80-62 on Jan. 11 at Santiago.
“That was our worst game of the year,” Moorhouse said. “We shot like 17 percent (on 3-pointers) and 30 percent overall and they shot like 50 percent.”
La Quinta is in a battle for second and closes out its league schedule against Rancho Alamitos, Bolsa Grande and Los Amigos.
Jack Nguyen scored 14 points, including 12 in the first quarter, to lead the Aztecs.
Santiago hit back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 25-16 lead late in the second.
Lamson Nguyen answered with a 3-pointer for the Aztecs to cut the deficit to six, but Hector Cuevas’ putback at the buzzer gave the Cavaliers an eight-point lead at the half.
La Quinta then opened the third quarter on a 10-4 run to get to within two points.
Buboi, a junior transfer from Orange Lutheran, hit a pair of baskets late in the third to help build the Cavaliers’ lead back up to five heading into the fourth.
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De la Mora, a sophomore transfer from Foothill, opened the fourth with a 3-pointer to give the Cavaliers a 42-34 lead.
From there, Santiago stayed safely ahead the rest of the way.
“We’ve just got to take in Loara on Friday and we’ll pretty much be there,” Ojeda said. “I’ve known a lot of teammates and I know how hard all the teammates who graduated before me have worked and all the things that they taught me. I just want to take after them and win it.”